against rohingya refugees fleeing a military crackdown in myanmar. doctors in bangladesh say that many of the women and children who have crossed over the border from myanmar have been sexually assaulted and abused by soldiers. separatist leaders in the spanish region of catalonia insist that polls will open in the coming hours for an independence referendum banned by the central government. spanish police are working to block the vote but catalonia's vice—president said ballot boxes would be available at polling stations. the situation in puerto rico after the devastation by two hurricanes is still dire, amid a deepening political row over the us relief efforts. in a series of tweets, president trump has promised his support but tried to blame local officials, democrats and the media for the poor situation. the prime minister theresa may is facing renewed pressure over the government's approach to brexit just ahead of her conservative pa rty‘s conference. the foreign secretary,

borisjohnson, used a newspaper interview to set out four areas on which he believed the uk government should not compromise in its negotiations with the european union. our political correspondent vicki young reports. is this a prime ministerial is a red box brimming with popular ideas? theresa may certainly hopes so. she arrived in manchester this evening determined to put the disappointing election result behind her and talk about more than brexit. keeping the lead an conservative splits will not be easy. borisjohnson has been going public with personal views on the brexit. he lays out for red lines. he says the transition period after march 2019 should not be a second longer than two years. the uk should not accept any new rulings

from brussels during that time, no payment made to access the market and ina payment made to access the market and in a shadowing of the eu rules to ensure free trade. let us be creative as well as practical. last week in florence, theresa may tried to move in negotiations forward, or with a speech suggesting compromises in some areas. mrjohnson does not contradict but goes further. what i wa nt contradict but goes further. what i want from the brexit talks on what borisjohnson want from the brexit talks on what boris johnson and all around want from the brexit talks on what borisjohnson and all around the government tabled what is the best possible dealfor government tabled what is the best possible deal for britain and that secures the future outside the european union and keeps a close relationship with our current european partners. just one question... some conservatives do not go along with borisjohnson's assertion that brexit will be great. with davidson took him on. can you name itjust

with davidson took him on. can you name it just one with davidson took him on. can you name itjust one country in the world that said they will give us a better deal if we come out off the eu? she told the times that over optimism sells a people shot. what do they make of borisjohnson's latest interjection? he's making sure that brexit goes through. latest interjection? he's making sure that brexit goes throughlj latest interjection? he's making sure that brexit goes through. i not quite sure it is the right way forward. i like people who are charismatic and who can speak their minds so boris is one of those people. what is your message to borisjohnson? people. what is your message to boris johnson? shrewish, get behind the prime minister. the reason it may should be also concerned about who is trying to move in on herjob. —— she should be. this is the mighty river sava,

flowing for nearly 1,000 kilometres from the alps in slovenia, right across to belgrade, in serbia. it's the longest river within the balkans. a vital artery that's borne witness to so much history, stretching all the way back to ancient and medieval times and of course the turmoil of recent decades. today, the sava connects four countries thatjust a generation ago were at war. 0n myjourney i'll be exploring how today this river is healing wounds by boosting trade and tourism and creating a new identity for the region. and finding out why locals call this the ‘vital heart of the balkans'. a nation ofjust 2 million people,

slovenia prides itself on its close relationship with nature. it's one of the most densely forested countries in europe and nearly two thirds of its landscape is green space. this river, the sava, has been a crucial trading route for centuries, dating back to 400 bc, when the celts named it after their river god savus, protector of merchants and travellers. and this is the river's source, the magnificent savica waterfall, bursting from two separate points on the cliff face there. and my intention is to follow the river from here, at its very beginning, until it meets the danube, in belgrade. it's a near 1,000 kilometre course,

flowing through four countries that just over 25 years ago were joined as part of yugoslavia. the emerald waters snake through the cliffs and then widen into one of the sava's main tributaries, which has now become famous for watersports. and i'm getting a face first perspective. this is bellyaking. and, yep, there's a hint in the name. it looks like a kayak, but you lay on top of it and use your hands to peddle. like many slovenian kids, luka grew up in the countryside and the sava was a huge part of his childhood. i spent my whole life in the same house about 50 metres away from the river, so when i wake up, if i had my window open,

i can already hear it. here in slovenia, the river isn't just used for watersports — it's an important source of hydropower, and luka thinks the river also has an important role to play in uniting the communities who live throughout its course. we were formerly part of yugoslavia, so we are sort of still connected. while our languages may not be that similar, they still have the same origin, so we are still sort of one nation and it's sort of nice to have the sava river connect us all. the river isn't always this placid. it can rise a metre higher in the autumn and winter and turn a lot more aggressive. frankly, the relative calm of these rapids is more than enough for me to deal with. ah!

oh my god! 0k... not sure if bellyaking is the sport for me. further down the valley, two tributaries merge and the sava starts its journey proper. and at the fork in the rivers lies this majestic castle, lake bled, and its historic castle of the same name. this is slovenia's oldest castle, first built in medieval times. it's got a kind of fairytale ambience to it and, because of its location, it's been a strategic lookout for 1,000 years. and standing here, i can kind of get why. you can see for miles!

this place is legendary in slovenian history. 0n the banks of the lake still sits the former holiday home of the father of post—world war ii yugoslavia, presidentjosip broz tito. tito took the helm of the newly formed federal republic and more or less kept the country together until his death, in 1980, when yugoslavia began to fall apart. slovenia became the first to break away, with a short—lived war that lasted just ten days. it's been a sovereign nation state since 1991, and my next stop down the river sava is slovenia's capital, ljubljana. the city centre is made up of vast squares, lined with baroque buildings and the streets are packed with tourists ambling around. but it wasn't always like this. just over a decade ago ljubljana

was clogged with traffic and the city's main piazza was a car park. but in 2006, the city's mayor made the decision to ban cars from the centre. now the only vehicles allowed are these so—called cavaliers, electric cabs that give free lifts to those with luggage or who need extra help getting around. if you had to compare how this city looked ten years ago to now, can you tell me the difference? and the children are still following you. and it's notjust the kids that are using the car—free streets as a playground. filip and blaz are ambassadors for the city. they met when one was a juggler and the other a gymnast, and together became a social media sensation with their urban acrobatic antics. we tried to put ljubljana on the map in our videos.

so you can imagine running in a circle or something, we would run off a building. and you've done that? yeah. filip and blaz have good reason to keep the city centre, which doubles as their performance space, spick and span and they've been part of the efforts to keep it that way. cheering wow! thank you! once a year we have action. the whole of slovenia is cleaned up and the river, they have divers and clean up all the bicycles out. and you've played a big part in those campaigns? yeah. we try to help. we are strong, so we lift all of the heavy stuff, help them to keep it clean and keep it on the next level. citywide cleanups and specialist waste disposal points helped the capital win the accolade of being europe's greenest city

in 2016, and filip and blaz are keen to encourage other locals and tourists to see the potential in ljubljana's spruced up streets. and the gymnasts are firm believers that anyone can be taught to do this. just change the arms. oh, sorry. yeah, like this. and three, two, one, go! see? i told you it's simple. you can move one arm as well. push ups! three, two! three... i don't know how i managed that. it's kind of superhuman strength. time to leave this urban oasis and head downstream again to radece. this region, like most of slovenia, is densely forested and has a thriving timber industry. hi. nice to meet you.

welcome. hundreds of years ago, the sava was the only way to get the huge logs to major cities across the balkans. and i'm here tojoin other tourist to get a taste of those centuries—old rafting journeys. we managed to revive this tradition, because otherwise we would forget all that and it was important because it was alive more than 500 years ago. and duska sees the sava playing a much larger role in the region in the near future. now there is a perception of sava as a connector. connecting with who? with other communities along the river and, most important, connecting also across border regions. croatia, bosnia, serbia. and we already started to connect. baby steps, they are still, but, yes, we are connecting now along

the sava river. but before i head across to my next country on the sava, duska tells me i need to be fully initiated into life on the river with this time—honoured tradition. are you going to behead me? no, we don't do that any more! but if you want to be a member, you have to show us if you are able to sharpen that wooden stick. ah, you show me. and just when i thought the wood chopping was bad enough... here you go — on your knees.

you have to leave the head down. like this. whoa! baptised by the water of the river sava. next up on my voyage down the longest river within the balkans, croatia's capital, zagreb. croatia was part of the austro—hungarian empire until the end of the first world war. and you can see much of that architectural influence around zagreb. the city has been fought over by competing armies for centuries. in the 15th century, so the story goes, the ottoman army

was camped on the other side of the sava river, just over there, preparing to attack the city. to deter them, a cannonball was fired with such pinpoint accuracy, it landed on a chicken intended for the commander's dinner. so freaked out were the turks by this that they scarpered and never returned to the city again — so the legend goes. but ever since 1877, as a nod to this alleged act of defiance, a cannon has been fired every day at noon from this tower. wow! incredible. alem is a trained engineer who used to work on the zagreb trams before he saw an advert for the position of cannon man in 2008, and landed the job. ah, how come — what does it do? laughs. the cannon firing has become a big tourist attraction in zagreb.

alem needs at least 15 minutes a day to prepare and in his nine years doing thejob, he's never had a misfire. maybe we should pray. alem needs at least 15 minutes a day to prepare and in his nine years doing thejob, he's never had a misfire. maybe we should pray. no, no, no. no, no praying.

the town of sisak is where the river sava actually becomes wide enough for cargo ships like these to sail downstream to belgrade and serbia, and that's what has made the town such an industrial centre. now, sisak actually has a rich and colourful history but in recent times, it's been characterised as dull and dreary. in fact, most guidebooks don't even mention it. but that is now changing. i am actually the fourth generation born here. and i lived with this town,

i grew up with this town, and ijust, you know, when you're reading something about your town, you're reading the bad news and you're thinking "what are you talking about? "this is not how it is here." so, last year, dahna and her team set about creating rezthink sisak — an art festival that uses the town's buildings as a canvas for murals. this one, by croatian artist lonac, was one of the first to be created. it's the biggest mural in croatia and took 23 days and 400 cans of spray paint to complete. and how do the locals feel about this? um, well, at first, when we had to have the permission, they were first a little bit "what are you going to do with this?" but then, when it all started, they came every day here, they brought him the lemonade and cookies, and they were very, very proud of it.

they got really emotionally involved — as in people from this building call this, ‘our mural‘ — which is what we tried to accomplish, you know, for people to accept them as their own. the murals are scattered around the city, each with a different theme or message. dahna shows me one that highlights a particularly painful part of sisak‘s history. during world war two, this was the place where the children were gathered to be put in the only concentration camp for children in europe. really? just here? yes — in this general area. in this general area? yes, yes. the camp was set up by the nazi—affiliated ustase regime during world war two. the victims were serbian, jewish and roma children. this mural by austrian artist robin abramovic is dedicated to their memory. i believe that the artist gave them a tribute that they deserved and maybe a sort of place of remembrance of all those children who didn't make it. we called him to be a part of our festival because we, as a team, decided that his work does have that certain dark undertone that maybe we kind

of lacked in the festival. and needed to portray. and needed, of course, yes, because the art has to provoke thinking, so, notjust be pretty. there are now 17 murals in sisak and the festival has been such a success, they've decided to keep on painting. mind you, people don't come to this part of croatia just for the art. they come to see the country's largest wetland, which i'm heading through to my next stop on the sava river — the marshlands of brodski varos, where i encounter a man on an unusual fishing expedition. because stjepan goes out every day to collect food for this family of storks. stjepan found the mother, malena, 2a years ago after she had been shot and critically disabled by hunters.

she still can't fly. because malena can't hunt, stjepan has to help feed the chicks. the fact that i can get so close, incredible. and they're beautiful! wow. congratulations! over the years, a male stork, klepetan, became malena's mate but each winter, malena has to say goodbye to klepetan and their brood of baby storks as he migrates to africa for the winter. this bond between stjepan and malena has become internationally famous and is even the subject of a brand—new documentary, the old man and the stork. this bond between stjepan and malena

has become internationally famous and is even the subject of a brand—new documentary, the old man and the stork. and so, the first half of myjourney down the sava is complete and i'm beginning to grasp how important the river is to the people who live along its banks. next week, i will head to bosnia and herzegovina and then east, all the way to serbia's capital, belgrade. i'll find out how a generation who were born by the sava after the war in the ‘90s have new priorities and why the river has become so important to the future of serbia's capital.

and i hope you'lljoin me. hello again. wind and sunshine and ran. we will see heavier rain. strengthened winds. already cold in scotland. a chilly start for the great scottish run in glasgow. expect rain. it will be heavy. we will find rain going from east to west. extending into scotland. the west coast weather in scotland. the west coast weather in scotland. —— wettest. the best sunshine in the afternoon. it will be windy. quite a muddy field in england and wales. —— muggy feel. a

lot of cloud. 19 degrees. rain at times. the nfl is on bbc two. the rain clears away during the evening. warm and tropical rain swept through. then colder. a north—westerly wind. no impact from ex—hurricane maria. in the rush—hour, there will be some issues. strong winds. 60 in scotland. that will combine with quite a few showers, some heavy to begin with. it could be dry in the south—east of england. temperatures are lower. given the strength of the wind, north—westerly, it will feel chilly. this rain from ex—hurricane

maria should not amount to much. grazing the southernmost part of england. gone by tuesday. a north—westerly follow. not as windy on tuesday. not as many showers. quite chilly. 13—111. high pressure trying to move in around the middle pa rt trying to move in around the middle part of the week. not much of an impact. squashed by low pressure bringing wind and rain to the north—west. hello and thanks forjoining us. the bbc has heard disturbing accounts of sexual violence and brutality against rohingya women and children who've fled the military crackdown in myanmar. the united nations is warning of an increase in this type of violence and doctors say they've found that many of the women and children they are treating, have been sexually assaulted and abused by soldiers. the rohingya — a muslim ethnic minority — live in rakhine state in mainly buddhist myanmar — but more than half a million are now living in refugee camps on the southern tip of bangladesh. a warning you may find some of the details in sanjoy majumder‘s